Grain Prices are going up and grocery store healthy eating suggestions go down

A healthy salad of "Mock Tuna Fish" (Garbanzo Beans), with lettuce, tomato and whole-grain crackers.

So, I’ve been thinking of more healthy eating around here in the Prairie Farmhouse and noticing that I get frustrated at a certain grocery store’s ad every week.  They promote “healthy” eating and while they do have organic foods in their ads, at least 50% (if not more) of the sale items are not just processed foods but JUNK foods.  Candy, soda, chips, sugared cereals, desserts. 

One of their “healthy dinner” ideas was tuna noodle casserole and some veggie.  Ok, I’ll grant you that was healthy, but really... what child these days willingly eats Tuna & Noodles??  And with tuna being offered there for $1 for one can.... Sheesh!  That seemed rather expensive. 
Deli roasted whole chickens go on sale for $4.99.  You could use the one-two cups in a noodle casserole, still have plenty of meat for sandwiches or tacos or another casserole and the bones for soup/stock.  The classic “Rubber Chicken” (it stretches and stretches for several meals.)  $5 of tuna would give you, just tuna.  Tuna sandwiches  and tuna-noodles and what else??  I personally can’t think of too many dishes I’d make with tuna (at least ones that Farmer-dear would actually eat!)

I shouldn’t complain, because I’m thankful my favorite grocery stores do have sales on “ingredients” from time to time. Especially right before the holidays.  I try to stock up on baking ingredients, herbs & spices, canned goods.   With a full pantry, our good home-raised beef, the local pork and organic chickens we buy from the producers, I am able to keep our grocery list smaller and look for those items found around the exterior aisles of the store.  The produce, dairy and loss leaders.

Dairy items that have been on sale lately:  yogurt and cheese.
Some better prices in produce:  citrus and potatoes

Another suggestion for you, dear Puffins... consider stocking up on Flour, Sugar, Cornmeal, Dry Cereals.  You may have not noticed but the grain commodity prices have been extremely high lately!  As farmers/grain producers, we are not complaining, but as consumers I wonder what the fallout from $13 beans, $6 corn and $7 wheat will be?! 

I have my 2 unopened 60# bags of milling wheat here, but I need to stock up on unbleached white flour for cookies.  I’m not sure of my oatmeal or cornmeal (which I could mill from popcorn) and I haven’t kept track of rice prices but that is another item I should keep in bulk.  I also wonder with grain being so high, will this cause meat and dairy prices to go up?  Grain is livestock feed too.

My Whisper Mill and white winter wheat berries for milling.

I don’t mean to cause panic, but it is food for thought and something you may want to discuss as a family.

Now that the busy time of the holidays is waning for me again, I need to get back into baking our bread and cooking more from scratch.  We’ve weeded out most of the processed foods from the house (well, Farmer will have a few “treats” around...) and he’s been very good about trying some new recipes that he was sure he wouldn’t like.  “Dirty Rice” was tolerable, but “Healthy Oven-Fried Chicken” was a hit. 

Healthy foods- Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Almonds, Hard Cheese, Herbs and Garlic...also known as Pesto!

And in the interest of our health, we’ve been eating at least 3-5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day.  A Vit D supplement, plenty of filtered water and new this year, 7-9 hours of sleep each night.  We can’t stop the aging process, but we can do all we can to maintain our health.

What are you doing in the healthy cooking, eating or maintaining health areas of your life?  I’d love to know.

Hugs
K~

Random Thoughts on the post by cookblog: "The Pig Dies At Noon"

cookblog: "The Pig Dies At Noon": "That's what the email said, just to ensure that the more squeamish guests would be arriving around 5. "
I just read this post by Peter....  about the progress of going from a living pig to a pork dinner.  (Note to the "squeamish"... there are photos of blood and gore, so you may want to hide your eyes as you scroll down.  But do read it.)

I was also interested in this statement:

"... I was surprised that more people didn't want to see a bit more of the butchering, or at least talk about what went in to bringing the meal to fruition. As it was, nobody at all in the house seemed to have any interest at all in what we were doing, let alone a desire to learn or hear about what we did."

I'm on the other end of the food equation ... in the birthing end of the beef... well, not me actually birthing any beef,... *grin* ... but our being the care-givers and midwives(mid-husbands?). We see the start of what will end up in our freezer and stomachs. We watch it grow and mature and fatten, caring for it along the way. Also knowing that if we neglect our responsibility, we won't be eating beef this winter.

I wonder if more people are not interested in knowing how their meat gets to their tables, because as a nation, we have never really been hungry or in want. There appears to be food galore in our grocers... most people not knowing that your average store only has enough stock on hand for maybe 3-7 days and that is not for everything on the shelves. You can find food (or what is marketed as "food") in almost every kind of retail establishment in the country. (Even Farm Stores have candy and nuts and a pop machine.)

I wonder what would (will) happen if (when) there would be a break-down in the transportation grid and the trucks could not get to the warehouses or stores? What if a huge natural disaster happened or national emergency and we were required by law to stay in a small area for our safety? What if the food ran out?
What would you do? Rely on the government to air-drop food in? Or could you forage, barter, grow, hunt for your own?

Just some thoughts running through my mind today as we continue harvesting corn and as I have been helping with chores-- feeding the beefers and as I looked in my freezer for something to defrost for supper. I see my the end of my garden and look at the filled canning jars in my pantry.  I smile at my various "kitchen helpers"-- grain mill, stand mixer, dehydrator, vacuum sealer.  I pat the bags of wheat berries and cans of beans on the shelf.  I think about my neighborhood and how we share not only food but life lessons.  And I thank my Father God again for how much He has truly blessed us.

I'm interested in what you have to say about any of these thoughts....

Hugs,
Kay~

** Maybe a person's time would be as well spent raising food as raising money to buy food. ~Frank A. Clark